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Various Artists- This Is Not A Test [treetrunk056]

by: Various Artists

Publication date: 2008-08-23

Usage: Attribution 3.0 United States

Topics: experimental, ambient, phonography, field recording, spoken word

Item Size: 210.2M

This very special release from Treetrunk documents and celebrates an event that happened August 11, 2008 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The event was called "This Is Not A Test: The Chicago Sound Experience", and was curated by Margaret Noble ( www.margaretnoble.net ). "This Is Not A Test" was one of a series of Audio Picnics at the Pavilion, designed to provide visitors with free and enjoyable audio experiences. The event was quite successfull, drawing a large and attentive crowd. It lasted for 3 hours, from 6 to 9 PM.

Here is what Margaret Noble wrote in the original program notes:

"This evening’s recorded arts concert brings together sound art, spoken word and field recordings from around the world for the sole purpose of listening. These works exist without the accompaniment of visual imagery except for your surroundings. Although many of these recordings have musical elements, these works aim to pull the listener in from a different type of perception which may or may not include patterns, melody or rhythm.

The focus of these works is place, space and narrative as they occur in Chicago and beyond. Some works are historical; others are abstract. Some listeners may choose to listen without expectation by avoiding reading the artists’ notes. In this case, sounds become one’s own interpretation based on independent experience. Other listeners may elect to follow the program notes closely. In this case, artistic technique and vision illustrate the works from the perspective of the creator. . ."

Notes

Curator: Margaret Noble ( margaretnoble.net )
Web Curator: Thomas Park ( www.mystifiedmusic.com )

Additional Track Information:

This information was gathered from the program for the Audio Picnic. Track numbers pertain to the original track order.

Track 1, "Vritti", is available for previewing from the artist's upcoming release.

The tracks, "CHI-TAPE Excerpts 1 and 2" by Meri von KleinSmid are not available on this release.

Ms. Noble would like to encourage the listeners to hear the tracks in the order of the program because she feels this arrangement had a particular flow.

1. ‘Vritti’ by Jen-Kuang Chang of Lincoln, NE
Start Time: 6:05 PM Length: 3:39 Minutes
Vritti is a sonic poem depicting the fluctuation of human conscious during the meditative state, using computer-generated sounds, acoustic instruments and field recordings. This piece is not posted on the netrelease, per the artist's request, but it is available for previewing from his upcoming release. More on the artist: www.myspace.com/jenkuangchang

2. ‘Shikaakwa’ by David Schmudde of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 6:08:41 PM Length: 3:20 Minutes
All residents of Chicago know the instant reprieve that the crashing waves provide when they face east and allow the temporal nature of the city to be drowned out by the endless ebb and flow of Lake Michigan.

3. ‘Lone Construction Cry’ by Peter Cusack of London, UK
Start Time: 6:12:03 PM Length: 4:27 Minutes
Field recording of central Chicago - recorded from a downtown 16th floor window on Saturday the 24the of July 2004.

4. ‘The Ambient Wasp’ by Krispen Hartung of Boise, ID
Start Time: 6:16:32 PM Length: 5:11 Minutes
A captured a wasp in its nest before winter hibernation. In a small ceramic jar, free breathing and frustrated, this creature’s fury was recorded and processed.

5. ‘Lake Station’ by Teresa Gale of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 06:21:45 PM Length: 1:10 Minutes
‘Your Favorite Chicago Sounds” project: CTA riders file through turnstiles at the Red Line "Lake" station, amidst ongoing repairs and renovation.

6. ‘True Crime’ by Thomas Park / Mystified of St. Louis, MO
Start Time: 6:22:57 PM Length: 4:46 Minutes
"True Crime" is a darkly funny sample collage hearkening back to the days of Prohibition in Chicago.

7. ‘Taste and See’ by Peter Joseph of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Start Time: 6:27:45 PM Length: 5:24 Minutes
The church and parish of St. Michael's on the near north side dates from before the time of the Chicago fire. In the fall of 2005 I returned to the church where I sang in the 7th grade choir some 35 years later. These are composed of field recordings made between Sept and Dec 2005.

8. ‘A Spoon Full of Sugar’ by Teresa Gale of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 6:33:11 PM Length: 2:04 Minutes
Your Favorite Chicago Sounds project: a holiday window display at the State Street Macy's features audio by Mary Poppins with a playful accompaniment by a Salvation Army volunteer.

9. ‘Grant Park’ by Jennifer Swann of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 6:35:17 PM Length: 2:20 Minutes
Swann reflects on Chicago through her experiences watching the seasons change over the last year in downtown's Grant Park.

10. ‘The Astrolabe’ by Eleazar Garzon of Argentina
Start Time: 6:37:39 PM Length: 10:07 Minutes
“The Astrolabe of Eleazar” was made with sounds produced by cross synthesis and samples of orchestral-alike sounds transformed by filters, granular synthesis and Ocarina-alike sound played by the composer.

11. ‘Dying Underground’ by Alfonso Carrasco Martz of Spain
Start Time: 6:47:48 PM Length: 6:28 Minutes
The media shows conflicts around the world every day, and we are so used to this barbarity that we have learned to ignore it.

12. ‘Kira’s Murder’ by Margaret Noble of San Diego, CA
Start Time: 6:54:18 PM Length: 3:11 Minutes
On June 26th of 2007, Kira Simonian, a beautiful and talented Chicago artist, student and friend was brutally murdered. One year later it was revealed that the murderer was her husband. This piece is a direct response to the shock and brutality of this crime. More on the artist: http://margaretnoble.net

13. ‘Untitled #209’ by Francisco Lopez of San Francisco, CA
Start Time: 7:00:00 PM Length: 8:54 Minutes
http://www.franciscolopez.net

14. ‘Chicago_Street_Performers Episode’ by Peter Noise Inc of Poland
Start Time: 7:08:56 PM Length: 11:48 Minutes
Various Chicago street performances captured in March 2008 as field recordings. It is my sound vision of Chicago's downtown.

15. ‘Boarding Pass’ by David Fodel of Colorado
Start Time: 7:20 PM Length: 2:41 Minutes
Between 2005 and 2007, I traveled back and forth to Chicago as part of my work. Along the way, I recorded hundreds of small cell-phone movies of the process of getting on and off commercial airplanes.

16. ‘To the Water’ by Noleian Reusse of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 7:23:29 PM Length: 6:10 Minutes
‘To the Waves’ is an interpretive documentation of traveling through the city to get to the lake.

17. ‘CHI-TAPE, Excerpt 1’ by Meri von KleinSmid of Vancouver, Canada
Start Time: 7:29:41 PM Length: 8:34 Minutes
This is not a love letter to Chicago, but a sprawling sonic megalopolis of religious testimonials, advertising jingles, gospel music, public service announcements, fractured language, and popular songs from Chicagoland area radio, all corrupted by some of the thinnest, cheapest cassette tape stock in the world. This track is not posted on the net release per the artist's request.

18. ‘Jumping Over Koons’ by Rory Shackles/Idle of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 07:38:17 PM Length: 7:21 Minutes
This piece is composed of two recordings - a field recording taken at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago during the Jeff Koons exhibition, and a live recording of a skipping compact disc player.

19. ‘Free Sound’ by Alfonso Carrasco Martz of Spain
Start Time: 7:45:36 PM Length: 5:28 Minutes
Playing with a simple tonal theme and field recordings made in Barcelona, I try to find similarities and differences between both sound art and electronic music.

20. ‘Chicago Downtown Train Episode’ by Peter of Noise Inc of Poland
Start Time: 7:51:06 PM Length: 13:53 Minutes
On the train and in the buildings of Chicago and processed with gleetchlab, this work is a 100% live performance.

21. ‘Lovely Banalities’ by Gintas K of Lithuania
Start Time: 8:07:00 PM Length: 2:26 Minutes
My primary interest is studying the physical effects of sound on the human psyche. For this study, I utilize sine waves, digital sounds, expressive synthesized tones, noises and complex rhythmical structures.

22. ‘CHI_TAPE, Excerpt 2’ by Meri von KleinSmid of Vancouver, Canada
Start Time: 8:09:28 PM Length: 6:17 Minutes
CHI-TAPE is an experimental music composition created in Chicago, Illinois in 1992 — with only one cassette tape and one tape recorder-radio unit. This is not a love letter to Chicago, but a sprawling sonic megalopolis corrupted by some of the thinnest, cheapest cassette tape stock in the world. This track is not posted on the net release per the artist's request.

23. ‘Topography of Darkness’ by Martin Bedard of Montreal, Canada
Start Time: 8:15:47 PM Length: 3:57 Minutes
This work is inspired by the principal character of the novel, Notes of a Night Watchman by Alexandre Zinoviev.

24. ‘Anechoic Pulse Excerpt’ by A. Kokoras of Greece
Start Time: 8:19:46 PM Length: 5:00 Minutes
This sound material, not easily recognized most of the time, undergoes a rather simple transformation in terms of sound processing using editing tools. The piece ends with tiny strokes of a metallic stick hitting a 19-inch timpani. This net release features a 5 minute except of the original piece. More on the artist: www.panayiotiskokoras.com

25. ‘106th Street Bridge’ by Joshua Manchester of Chicago, IL
Start Time: 8:29:32 PM Length: 8:20 Minutes
The industries that once reigned supreme in South Chicago have left some monumental scars on the area, from a swamp filled in with slag, to massive quarter-mile walls that used to contain coal. Standing on the 106th Street Bridge, you catch a glimpse of that old Chicago.

26. ‘Sra’ by FranÁois Dumeaux of France
Start Time: 8:37:54 PM Length: 5:20 Minutes
PiËce composÈe ‡ la demande d'Annette Vande Gorne, pour le concert - anniversaire des 80 ans de Bernard Parmegiani, festival L'Espace du Son, Bruxelles.

27. ‘Bastet’ by Elsa Justel of France
Start Time: 8:43:16 PM Length: 10:48 Minutes
Bastet, inspired by the Egyptian cat-goddess, was commissioned by Aprem-Nevers. The piece starts in the interior regions of the piano. Bewildered by these unfamiliar surroundings, she tries to escape whilst scratching the strings. This work explores the meaning of ambiguity, instability and chance.

28. ‘Leaving Chicago’ by Thomas Park/Mystified of St. Louis, MO
Start Time: 8:54 PM Length: 5:10 Minutes
Chicago is a kind of dream city to me, being a place with incredible scenery, architecture, culture, and excitement. After a recent visit, I tried to capture the sadness I felt when leaving this great city by train.

The image is of the "Great Lawn", part of the Pritzker Pavilion, courtesy of Margaret Noble.